Altered Pages Memo Board Featuring MD Hobby & Craft

Hello everyone, and welcome back to my regularly scheduled post.  As you know by now, we are featuring products from this month's fabulous sponsor, MD Hobby & Craft.  The design team has been making some wonderful projects for you that should really get those creative juices flowing.

I have been trying to figure out ways to display some of my artwork in my studio to give me my own inspiration and, hopefully, get my creative juices flowing.  When I received this 1' x 2' Lincane Perforated Aluminum Sheet, oh boy did the ideas start coming.  I made this magnetic memo board with other supplies I had on hand, just waiting for the perfect project.

Print the two Altered Pages collage sheets listed in the supply list below onto Craft Attitude (CA).  I suggest doing this first to allow the ink to dry on the CA sheets.  Remember to reverse the images for printing if you have any words on anything.

Insert 12"x12" Magnetic Steel Sheet into memory frame, check fit.  The perforated aluminum sheet that I am using on top is not magnetic, so I need this second piece beneath it to make it magnetic.

Run a strip of washi or painter's tape around the edges of the frame to protect it from painting.  Sponge on Copper acrylic paint; allow to dry.  You could always paint the metal outside of the frame, but I was afraid I might scratch it off by handling it.  

Sponge a lighter coat of the Verde Gris glaze over the Copper paint; let dry.  Remove washi tape.

Use a guillotine cutter or metal shears to cut the 1' x 2' Lincane Perforated Aluminum Sheet down to 12" x 12".  

Add a 1/4" strip of metal tape to the cut edge.

I used to do my own framing, so I happen to have a framer's tool and points, which I used to secure my metal sheets.  I know not everyone has these, so a good metal adhesive will work just as well.

Closeup of framer's points

Adhere Double-sided tape to five strips of German Scrap.  Be sure to burnish the tape down really well.  This will help it adhere better, and make it easier to get that dad gum liner off.

Adhere the strips around the perimeter of the metal sheets to cover your glazing points (or glue), or just for the sheer elegance of it.

Closeup of German Scrap border

I had purchased this metal flower embellishment, but I wanted to make it my own.  

So, I used my Art Anthology Dimensional Acrylic Paints (June Bud, Baby Blue Eyes, Red Velvet, Kenyan Copper) to make it more to my liking.  These paints are transparent and very thick, but I needed to make them more opaque by adding some white gesso to them.  

After that coat dried, I came back with either the same color without gesso, or added another color on top.  See photo for details.

Now for some magnets to use on my magnetic memo board.

Choose a collage image from the CA sheet that will fit nicely onto a domino.  

 

Use two to three alcohol inks with felt adhered to your Ranger blending tool to color the top of a domino, let dry.  Use light colors so your CA transfer will show through.  

Follow Craft Attitude for adhering the film to the domino.  Adhere a strong magnet to the back of the domino.

Make a second domino from another image of paint tubes.  I made a third one, ART,  that I glued to several layers of mat board with a white background.  Here are all three.

A couple more pics of the metal topper... 

and the magnets in use on the board. 

So, what do you think?  Pretty cool, huh?  Are you thinking of the multitude of collage images you can use on various shapes and pieces to make your own set of magnets?  I'm thinking about Pen nibs, wooden bingo markers, and Bottle Caps, to name just a few.  You know three are not enough and I will be making a bunch more, especially since there are so many fab images on just those two collage sheets.  Imagine what you can make with any of the fun Altered Pages collage sheets available.  

Supplies used:

Altered Pages:  AP-2550 Create Art collage sheet; AP-2565 I Create, Therefore I Am collage sheet; German Scrap; Double-sided tape; Art Anthology Dimensional Acrylic Paints (June Bud, Baby Blue Eyes, Red Velvet, Kenyan Copper); White Gesso; Glue stick; Ranger blending tool;

MD Hobby & Craft:  12"x12" Magnetic Steel Sheet; 1' x 2' Lincane Perforated Aluminum Sheet
12"x12" Memory Frame (Hobby Lobby)
Acrylic paint:  Copper, Verde Gris Glaze
Kraft colored washi tape (or painter's tape)
Sea sponge
Craft Attitude
Domino
Alcohol inks:  Espresso, Latte, Caramel
Alcohol, blender tool, felt

Thanks so much to MD Hobby & Craft for allowing us to "play" with their fabulous products this month.  I have another fun idea in the works for my next post in a couple of weeks.   

And a big thanks to you for stopping by today.  I hope you will check out the rest of the team's projects this month combining these great products from MD Hobby & Craft and Altered Pages. 

Have a wonderful and creative week!

Barbara

Mother's Day Link Up Party with Altered Pages

Hello everyone, and Happy Mother's Day to all of you fabulous moms out there.  First off, we are featuring MD Hobby & Craft  products with you this month.  They produce beautiful metal sheets, mesh, rolled aluminum and other items sized for the crafter. 

Today at Altered Pages, we are doing a special post for Mother's Day. A few of the design team members have volunteered to help celebrate this momentous occasion by sharing some inspirational projects, and we want you to join in by linking up a project you've made.  I cannot wait to see what everyone creates!  And to make it easier for you to play along, AlteredPages.com will be offering two collage sheets for you to download and use in your projects that you link up.  Click here to see what you need to do to link up your project.  

At first, I thought about making a card, but I also love tags, and they, too, can be used just like a card. A sentiment can be written on the back, similar to adding one to the inside of a card.  So, here is my tag "card" for Mother's Day.

Here are some of the Altered Pages products I plan to use on my tag.  I may not use them all, but this is where to start.

Spray large white tag from the Mailbox Muse Animal Extravaganza Spring 2015 Kit with Maya Road Mists Charcoal first.  Leave some white areas and spray those with Cherry Metallic.  Spray randomly over tag with IrResistible Texture Mist Bronze.  Let dry.

Here is a close up of that gorgeous color and texture!

Tear a strip from the music sheet, spritz with water and wrap each end around two paint brushes.  Let dry or speed drying with a heat gun, being careful not to ruin your brush handle.

Now you have a stiff, curly strip of music paper that will keep its shape.  Distress edges with brown ink.

Trim a piece of the Serviette Paper, spritz with Cherry Metallic, dab excess and let dry.  Glue to right edge of tag with a strip of German Scrap Border to cover the glue line.

Cut out one of the beautiful ladies from the Beauty in Green collage sheet and layer onto a slightly larger piece of black card stock.  After stamping and fussy cutting the images from the Muse Stitches rubber stamp set...

here is what I have collected for my tag so far.

Begin laying out and adhering your embellishments.

Cut three diamond shapes from the aluminum mesh, ink each with VersaMark ink.

Dip into detail silver embossing powder and heat set, being careful not to burn yourself.  Remember, it is metal and it does get hot!

Here is a picture of the before and after heat embossed pieces.  Not much difference, so why did I do it?  By adding a coat or two of embossing powder, I was able to cover any sharp edges from where the mesh was cut.  I would hate for my recipient to get "stuck" with a sharp edge.  

Left:  heat embossed                                 Right: bare metal

The three mesh diamond shapes were added to the top of the tag in a pleasing arrangement.  I used 3D Crystal Lacquer to adhere them to the tag.

Closeup at top of tag.  I also died some of the dyeable seam binding with the same Cherry Metallic mist as I used on the tag background and added to the tag hole.

Closeup of the middle of the tag.  I added some flowers that I had left over from a previous project.  

Add 3D Crystal Lacquer to the two buttons to give them a bit of dimension.  I also added some black German Scrap to the very bottom edge of the tag, along with a string of diamond gems.  

One last look at the finished tag.

Supplies:

Altered Pages Collage Sheets: Beauty in Green
Altered Pages Mailbox Muse Kit Muse Stitches rubber stamp set
Mailbox Muse Animal Extravaganza Spring 2015 Kit - Large Tag
IrResistible Texture Mist Bronze
Maya Road Mists:  Charcoal non metallic, Cherry Metallic
Adhesive Dimensionals
Aleene's Tacky Glue
Serviette Papers
Large Music Sheets
German Scrap Border
Dyeable Seam Binding
3D Crystal Lacquer
StazOn Black ink pad
Black Bling

Other supplies:

MD Hobby & Craft Aluminum Mesh
Various colored pencils and markers
Watercolor paper
Paper flowers from my stash
Detail Silver embossing powder
Heat gun

Thanks to our amazing May sponsor!  I have some fun ideas for their products, and I know the design team is also going to be sharing their amazing creations all month.  So be sure to visit often to see what we all come up with.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!

Barbara

House of Cards May 2015 Challenge - Bokeh Effect

..................................................................................
Please click here if you are looking for my ColourArte post today!
˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚˚
Hello everyone, and welcome back to a new monthly challenge here at House of Cards.  I so enjoy seeing all the creations each month, not only from the design team, but also from you, the challenge participants.

This month's challenge is ...

MAY 2015
Technique Challenge: Bokeh Effect

1. So, what exactly is bokeh? According to Wikipedia:
   In photography, bokeh (Originally /ˈboʊkɛ/, /ˈboʊkeɪ/ BOH-kay — also sometimes pronounced as /ˈboʊkə/ BOH-kə, Japanese: [boke]) is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens. Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light".

1. I have to admit that I had never heard of bokeh, but now that I know what it is, I am excited to share this fun technique with you.  Once you see how easy it is, I think you are going to enjoy it as much as I have.
   

   

   Sponge at least three colors onto watercolor paper.

Make a stencil by punching three different circle sizes into which card.

Sponge Brilliance Moonlight White ink through stencil, moving stencil around to get depth.  Some cirlces will appear in front, while some will appear behind.

Here is a picture of how it starts to look.

Keep stenciling until you like the appearance.

Fold 8-1/2" x 11" yellow card stock in half to make 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" card base.  Punch right edge with Garden Trellis punch.  Cut lilac card stock to 1-1/4" x 11".  Fold in half and glue to inside along right edge.

Trim bokeh layer to 4-7/8" x 6-7/8" and edge with Hydrangea ink.  Adhere to card front.

Stamp flower bouquet postcard image onto Lilac card stock with VersaFine Onyx Black ink.  

(TIP: VersaFine is a fast drying oil-based pigment ink.  It works extremely well for finely detailed images, but I use it on brand new stamps, both clear and rubber,  because it will stick to the stamp, rather than bead up like water drops on a flower petal, if you know what I mean.)

Color the image with the same archival inks using a cotton swab to apply the ink.

Add Diamond Stickles to the butterfly and flower centers.

Stamp "Thinking of You" onto 1-1/4" x 7" strip of gold vellum with Hydrangea ink.  Adhere stamped image to card front over vellum strip.

To finish off the card, stamp some butterflies with Hydrangea ink in upper right open area.  The largest butterfly was stamped again onto scrap of lavender card stock and fussy cut out before adhering over stamped image.  (See finished photo above)

Supplies used:

90lb water color paper

Card stock:  Yellow, Lilac, Gold Metallic, Gold Vellum

Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink: Leaf Green, Dandelion, Hydrangea

Brilliance Ink:  Moonlight White

VersaFine Onyx Black ink pad

HOTP 1141-Postcards clear stamp set; HOTP 1085-Heartfelt Greetings clear stamp set

Makeup sponge

Index card

Various sizes of circle punches from (1", 3/4", 1/2")

Diamond Stickles

Here is a fun video tutorial on how to make your own Bokeh background.

https://youtu.be/aaH0QE01D1s

Now didn't that look like fun?  I hope you enjoyed my card this month and that I have been able to inspire and entice you to play along with us in this month's challenge, which can be seen by clicking here.

Linking up with:

Simon Says Anything Goes
Seize the Birthday: Make Your Own Background
The Pink Elephant Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, and please come back on Monday for MORE inspiration from this very talented Design Team!  We hope you join in the fun, too--please check out our House Rules HERE before linking up!  I can't wait to see your creations!

Barbara xo